Lake view: Getting the last word in

Monday

Mar 18, 2013 at 11:16 AMMar 18, 2013 at 11:18 AM

I feel compelled to make a request to the Lake Sun to create a "political opinion page" in addition to it's regular reader opinion section. The constant political bickering between a few lake area residents is starting to make me ill.

Todd Boothe

*Editor’s note: This opinion is in response to recent letters to the editor submitted by D. Conybear.

I feel compelled to make a request to the Lake Sun to create a "political opinion page" in addition to it's regular reader opinion section. The constant political bickering between a few lake area residents is starting to make me ill. It would be such a fresh breath of air to see articles written on how to better improve the country and the communities in which we live then the continuous "I must get in the last word in" arguments over events that are now history.

Mr. Conybear’s recent responses to letters submitted by Francis Carr, (on checking facts), and Eric Reeve, (GOP at fault for sequester), seem to be the actions of a school kid that just can't stomach the fact that someone else might have a different view of things. His reference to Jim Croce about a "man called Leroy Brown" had no bearing whatsoever on Mr. Carr’s letter. Mr. Carr took the challenge of checking the facts on a letter submitted by Mr. Hagan and came up with entirely different results then Mr. Hagan’s. I have to say after reading Mr. Hagan’s letter, I too took the challenge and fact-checked his results. They were completely wrong and my results were almost identical to Mr. Carr’s.

Mr. Conybear, you completely missed the opportunity to check for yourself, and instead, decided to jump up and down and scream because you didn't like what Mr. Carr had to say. Here is a quote from you in the same article: "I haven't checked the figures, but will bet..."

You must be a gambler. You obviously don't like Mr. Reeve either as you did the same thing with his recent submission.

Quote from you: "You must know by now that sequester was the President's idea..."

Again I decided to check. Here’s the background: In the summer of 2011, when Democrats and Republicans couldn’t agree on a way to cut spending in exchange for increasing the federal government’s borrowing limit, legislators settled on the Budget Control Act instead.

The law capped federal discretionary spending to save almost $1.2 trillion over a 10-year period, but also mandated that a bipartisan, 12-person congressional committee find at least $1.5 trillion in additional cuts. If the committee failed to come up with a plan, another $1.2 trillion in cuts would occur automatically — half from defense spending and half from discretionary spending on domestic programs — through sequestration. The committee failed to reach an agreement, and the automatic cuts are now in effect. In his book “The Price of Politics,” veteran journalist Bob Woodward of the Washington Post wrote that it was, in fact, Obama’s then-director of the Office of Management and Budget, Jacob Lew, and White House Legislative Affairs Director Rob Nabors who brought the idea of sequestration to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid before it was proposed to Republicans in Congress. That is the source of Republican claims that this is “the president’s sequester.”

Guess you might actually be on to something with Jacob Lew. One final quote by you: “As far as popularity is concerned, I'll bet you that Barack Obama's is diminished as a result of his poor and alarmist handling of the matter of sequestration.”

There you go gambling again! Actually, the Presidential Approval Index has risen from 51% on the day before the sequester took affect to 52% as of current ratings. (look it up before making that bet). I would like to conclude by raising awareness to the constant disrespect in these articles directed at our President. I grew up in a different era when calling the president by his first or last name while omitting his title wasn't tolerated by many. It disgusts me to read articles with so much disrespect.

Please Lake Sun, or should I call you Lake? Create a "political" page where these articles may be enjoyed by those who care to read them and free up this area for those who care to make a difference on the well being of our community.

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